


don't be surprised (i will still rise)

by hopeless_hope



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Dad!Tony, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Precious Peter Parker, That Scene from Homecoming, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:06:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17982518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeless_hope/pseuds/hopeless_hope
Summary: “I know about Toomes,” Tony says bluntly, with no preamble. “I know about the warehouse.”Peter flinches bodily at that, face going white, and Tony curses himself for not being more tactful.“I - w-what do you mean?” Peter stutters nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Tony sighs again, looking at the barely-concealed fear behind Peter’s eyes. “Kid, I saw the footage,” he says gently.-Anonymous: Imagine Tony finds some footage or audio of when Peter got crushed by that building, and he just crumples because it's his fault for taking the suit away, and why did he expect Peter to not be the hero?





	don't be surprised (i will still rise)

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the song "Rise" by Katy Perry.

“Tony,” Pepper calls, voice sounding serious as she walks into the lab. Tony, who’s elbow-deep in a new suit, trying to fix the wiring in the knee, shakes his head irritably.

“Whatever meeting I missed, scold me about it later. I’m kind of literally in the middle of something right now,” he tells her, not even bothering to look up.

“That’s not - there’s something you need to see. It’s about the kid,” she tells him.

_That_ gets his attention. He looks up, taking note of the shaken look on her face.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” he asks urgently, already extracting his arms from the suit and getting ready to call his functioning one into action. Pepper just shakes her head and thrusts the tablet in front of him.

“Is he posting videos of the Avengers on YouTube again? Because Happy and I already talked to hi -”

“Tony,” Pepper cuts him off. “Just watch it.”

Tony sighs, but he’s curious now - and a little worried, too, because not much fazes Pepper - so he quickly hits play.

The video feed is grainy and dark, except for a small lamp at the end of the room, where a lone figure is shuffling around a desk.

“Hey! Surprised?” a voice yells, and Tony squints as a smaller figure dressed in red and blue walks in. He turns to Pepper in confusion.

“Is this live?” he asks, frowning when she simply purses her lips and shakes her head. He keeps watching.

“Oh, hey, Pete,” the man greets, as if they’re old friends. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“It’s over - I’ve got you!” Peter continues, stalking purposely towards the man.

“You know, I gotta tell you, Pete - I really, really admire your grit. I see why Liz likes you,” the man compliments, and Tony’s eyes widen.

“This is  _Toomes?”_ he asks incredulously. “Peter never told me about - about this. Just the plane.”

Pepper’s eyes look sad as she says, “Just keep watching.”

“ - could you do this to her?” Peter is asking, and Tony watches, tense.

“ _To_  her? I’m not doing anything  _to_  her, Pete. I’m doing this  _for_  her,” Toomes explains.

Peter laughs dryly at that and shoots a web at Toomes, trapping him to the desk. Tony stares at the screen, transfixed, as he listens to Toomes try to convince Peter that people like Tony don’t care about people at the bottom of the totem pole.

Tony resists the urge to roll his eyes. It’s the same spiel he’s heard a billion other times from villains who like to think they’re special.

He can’t help but feel a twinge of unease, though. There’s something about the whole situation, the relaxed, casually manner with which Toomes is standing there that sets him on edge. Almost like - 

“I needed a little time to get her airborne,” Toomes says, pulling out a knife and slashing through the webbing.

Tony winces as a pair of huge, metallic wings come soaring in, and he inhales sharply as Peter darts quickly out of the frame. The wings fly around erratically, crashing into the large supports.

“I’m sorry, Peter,” Tomes calls, not sounding sorry at all as Peter skids on the ground and straightens up again.

“What are you talking about?” Peter scoffs. “That thing hasn’t even touched me yet!”

Toomes shrugs. “True, but then again, it wasn’t really trying to,” he says, and Tony’s blood freezes in his veins.

He watches with a sort of muted horror as the last of the supports is torn down and the ceiling caves in, directly on top of the kid -  _he’s only a kid for Christ’s sake!_ \- and the screen goes static. He turns a frantic look to Pepper.

“Pep, what -”

“He’s fine,” she quickly reassures, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. “This is in the past, he’s okay now.”

Tony can still hear the friction of rock on rock, and he realizes that somehow, the audio is still picking up. He waits anxiously, straining to hear any sound that indicates Peter’s okay. He knows logically that Peter’s fine - hell, he was just at the lab yesterday. But with what he just saw, Tony can’t quite convince himself of it.

Finally, a high-pitched whimper breaks through the white noise of gravel, followed by a series of strained grunts and gasps.

Tony listens, horrified, as the kid practically hyperventilates in panic before steeling himself to try to move.

“Okay, ready?” Peter gasps to himself, followed by a strained yell, eventually cut off by a choked sob that has Tony’s heart clenching painfully in his chest. It’s not a sound he  _ever_ wants to hear again.

“HELP!” Peter yells hoarsely, and a chill runs down Tony’s spine. This isn’t just a superhero in a situation gone south. This is a  _kid_ who is alone and terrified. “HELP! Please, please! Any - please, I’m down here,” Peter pleads through harsh sobs. “I’m down here and I’m stuck - I’m stuck, I can’t move, I can’t -”

Tony listens helplessly as Peter tries to breathe, breaths coming in short, desperate gasps. Beside him, Pepper is looking away, eyes shining with tears as she listens to a kid cry for help where no one can hear him.

Then, it all goes silent. Peter’s breaths stop, and Tony looks at Pepper in alarm, but she shakes her head. For a startling moment, the silence continues. And then, he hears it, at first just a faint whisper. But then it gets stronger.

“Come on, Spider-Man,” Peter says shakily, but there’s something determined in his voice now. The desperation for help is gone, and Tony’s stomach sinks as he realizes why. This is the sound of a kid who’s realized that no one can save him but himself.

“Come on, Spider-Man!” Peter repeats, straining, and Tony hears the sound of rock shifting again. “COME ON, SPIDER-MAN!” Peter yells this time, and now there’s so much movement that the rest of Peter’s strained sounds are lost to the shifting cement and metal.

A loud crash sounds, and then everything stops, dust settling under the sound of tired pants.

Peter made it out.

Tony stands there, frozen, as Pepper gently stops the video and pries the tablet from his tight grip. He’s distantly surprised he didn’t drop the thing. He barely notices as Pepper carefully maneuvers him into a chair, too caught up in his thoughts.

How - how did he not know? It’s been  _months_ since Toomes was thrown in jail. And all this time - how does Peter not hate him?  _This is all my fault_ , Tony thinks, self-loathing gripping his lungs and making it impossible to breathe.

“Tony? Tony, you have to breathe!” Pepper is saying urgently, cupping his face. “Peter’s okay, I promise he’s okay now.”

Tony tries to inhale, gripping the hand on his cheek. “I - this is all my fault,” he gasps, spiraling into an abyss of self-recrimination.

“No no no,” Pepper says firmly. “This is  _Toomes’_ fault. You did nothing wrong.”

“No, Pep,” Tony argues, trying to get himself under control again. “I took - I took his suit. I have - I have to make this right,” he says in determination, shrugging himself from her grasp.

“I have to make this right.”

* * *

“May!” Tony greets cheerfully as she opens the door with a puzzled look. “Is Peter here? I’m sorry for the late visit, but he wasn’t answering his phone and I needed to update him on some urgent internship stuff.”

Her expression clears, and she nods and steps back. “Yup, he’s working on homework. He usually turns off his phone so it doesn’t distract him,” she explains, and he can’t help but smile at that.

The kid’s a nerd through and through.

“He’s certainly dedicated,” Tony comments. “Mind if I go in? I’ll make it quick.”

She shakes her head and gestures to the hallway. “Go for it.”

Tony nods gratefully and walks quietly to the door, feeling an unfamiliar sense of nervousness. He knocks gently.

“Come in,” Peter calls, and Tony opens the door. “I’ll go to bed soon, I promise, I just have four mor -  _Mr. Stark?”_

Tony smiles wryly, clasping his hands behind his back. “The one and only,” he confirms, and Peter shakes his head, confused.

“Is - is something wrong?” His eyes widen. “Is there a mission?” he whispers urgently, already scrambling towards his suit, but Tony holds out an arm to stop him.

“No, no - there’s no mission,” Tony says. Peter gives him a confused look.

“Then why…?” he trails off, gesturing to Tony, and Tony sighs, running an unsure hand through his hair. He has  _no idea_ how to do this. He didn’t come here with a plan. All he knew was that he needed to see the kid for himself, needed to make things right.

Tony decides to do what he’s always done: get straight to the point.

“I know about Toomes,” he says bluntly, with no preamble. “I know about the warehouse.”

Peter flinches bodily at that, face going white, and Tony curses himself for not being more tactful.

“I - w-what do you mean?” Peter stutters nervously. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Tony sighs again, looking at the barely-concealed fear behind Peter’s eyes. “Kid, I saw the footage,” he says gently.

Peter inhales sharply at that, looking away. He never wanted anyone to see him like that, reduced to a pathetic, sobbing mess. Instead, his hero - his  _idol_  - saw everything.

Tony walks closer and kneels in front of the kid, carefully turning Peter in his chair to face him.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks softly.

Peter looks down at his hands, fidgeting. “You didn’t ask?” At Tony’s incredulous look, he rushes to continue. “It just - after everything, I didn’t want to give you another reason to be mad at me. It wasn’t even that important,” he shrugs helplessly, and Tony’s face hardens at that.

“‘Not important’?” he scoffs. “Peter, what you experienced was  _traumatic._ How are you not - how are you even  _okay_?”

Peter smiles sadly at that. “I-I mean, I wasn’t? Not for awhile, at least. But then I just - I dunno. Got over it?”

Tony shakes his head. “This isn’t the kind of thing you just ‘get over,’” Tony insists. He hesitates before, “How do you not hate me?”

Peter looks taken aback by the question. “What?! Why would I hate you?”

Now it’s Tony’s turn to look baffled. “Peter, I took away your suit. You would have been okay had it not been for that.”

Peter actually has the audacity to laugh at him softly, shaking his head a little. “No way. I deserved that.” Tony opens his mouth to protest, but Peter cuts him off. “No, really. I was being stupid, thought I could just play at being a hero without knowing what it really means to be one.” He shrugs. “It was a rude awakening but. I needed it.”

For a minute, there’s just silence as Tony processes that. Then, he lets out a big breath and shakes his head in awe. “Kid, you are something else,” he says in amazement, but Peter just dodges his gaze shyly, shrugging off the praise.

Eventually, Tony says, “And the actual traumatic event you went through - how are you dealing with that?”

Peter just shrugs again, fiddling with a pencil on his desk. “Mostly I just keep myself busy, you know? With patrol and the internship and school, I don’t really have a lot of time to think about it.”

Tony raises an eyebrow at him. “So what I’m hearing is that you  _haven’t_ dealt with it.”

“It’s not even that bad!” Peter whines defensively.

“Oh yeah?” Tony challenges. “And the nightmares? Panic attacks? How are those?”

Peter looks away, face reddening, and Tony nods to himself. “That’s what I thought,” he mutters.

There’s another small silence as Peter continues to mess around with his pencil before Tony sighs heavily.

“Listen, kid,” he starts, waiting until he’s got Peter’s full attention before continuing. “This superhero stuff isn’t easy. I know all too well what having to deal with the repercussions of what we see everyday alone is like. It sucks. And I’m not letting you do this alone anymore,” he says fiercely.

He watches as Peter’s eyes start to well with emotion, a tired, hopeful look that wasn’t there before making itself known. Tony carefully reaches out and rests a hand on the back on the kid’s neck, pulling him close. Peter shudders under his hold, the floodgates opening to tears of hurt and relief at not having to deal with this alone anymore.

Tony rests his head on the soft curls, murmuring softly, a promise.

“I wasn’t there for you before, but I’m here now. And I’m not leaving.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So anyway, I got this prompt on tumblr the other day and decided to write it. It turned out much longer than I originally intended, and it was pretty interesting to write, so I figured I'd post it here as well. I hope you guys like it!
> 
> As always, come yell at me on tumblr @the-great-escapism. Please leave a comment/kudos and let me know what you think! Feedback really does mean the world to me.


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